(Mercy Quaye - New Haven Register) A handful of protesters rally on Howard Avenue bridge over I-95 in New Haven Friday. They contend that undocumented migrant children should not be brought to Connecticut

When he returns from the border, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal would like to sit down with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to offer his firsthand insight on the situation and discuss ways Connecticut can play a constructive role in immigration reform.

Blumenthal traveled to the Texas-Mexico border Friday with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske. They visited the local border patrol center where immigrants are being held.

The senator said he hoped to find solutions for a situation he described as “heart wrenching.”

“Hundreds of children sleep on concrete floors without blankets, where they are kept in cells for possibly days,” Blumenthal said.

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Earlier this month, the Malloy administration denied the federal government’s request to house some of the thousands of illegal immigrants fleeing Central America.

“I look forward to sitting down with the governor and his administration so I can give him the insight that I have gained,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal said he would like to hear the governor’s concerns.

But Malloy’s administration has been pretty adamant that it doesn’t believe the state owns a building that fits the federal government’s request.

It was initially thought that the Southbury Training School, which houses developmentally disabled adults, may fit the criteria, but Ojakian said a review of the property found that’s not the case.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.,was in New Haven Friday and said she had not talked to anybody about the Southbury issue but had read the news reports that the training school is not a facility that is fit to house the children.

“Now that being said, it is my hope that Connecticut is going to participate in trying to deal with this,” DeLauro said. “We have a humanitarian crisis, a serious humanitarian crisis, so I’m hopeful that Connecticut will be engaged in participating and in helping to provide assistance here.”

“That’s where my hope is, that that is where we go,” the congresswoman said.

But also in New Haven Friday, a handful of protestors held a rally on the Howard Avenue bridge over Interstate 95 to show their opposition to undocumented immigrants crossing the border, including the children.

Steve Bonin, 63, of Middletown, said people coming from the border to Connecticut are hurting the state.

“It’s a burden to the taxpayers. It’s unfair to pick up a cost like this,” Bonin said. “It puts a burden on our medical system ... and the U.S. shouldn’t have to solve the rest of the world’s problems.”

Event organizer Judith Randall, 58, of Trumbull, said she wants immigrant children who came to the United States returned safely to their home nations. She said she believes sealing the border and holding politicians accountable can be ways to resolve the current issues.

“We must call our politicians,” the Trumbull native said holding a sign which stated, “Stop drug cartels on our border. We’re alarmed about the border situation. On our side, the border is wide open. We have to send them back home safety.”

Seymour resident Ron Peterson, 64, who was wearing an NRA hat, said allowing undocumented immigrants to stay here is not setting the right example for others.

“This is teaching our children you don’t have to obey the laws...,” Peterson said. “Everyone has the right to a better life. You have to do it legally. If I have to obey the law, I think everyone should have to obey the law. I don’t want to see anybody hurt, but I don’t think people want to admit there’s evil in the world.”